Tastes of Sea Salt
by WaywardWayfinder
Summary: The new girl has stolen Roxas' attention-and his heart-and are holding them hostage. The problem is, Roxas has only admired her from afar for the past month! So how is he supposed to tell Naminé how he feels if he's never talked to her in his life? And what happens when he's not only forcibly dragged into a close situation with her, but when her past causes it to get dangerous?
1. The New Girl

**_Tastes of Sea Salt_**

**_Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Disney and Square Enix and all of those guys do, though. I hear they're pretty decent people. :)_**

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><p><span>Chapter 1-The New Girl<span>

The blonde boy took a good, long look at the fragile-looking form sitting one row in front of him. Curious, he leaned his elbow on the wood of the desk and rested his chin in his hand. As the sky slowly turned from the rainy grey of the early morning to a soft azure blue, the words in the background all started to flow together and became just another noise to ignore. He watched the girl with focused eyes, as the newborn sunlight peeked from the clouds through the window and caught her platinum blonde hair. The sight was nothing short of mesmerizing.

_I wonder what she's drawing..._

He recognized the cute way she huddled over the desk, as was her custom, when she was sketching. He'd seen her drawings before, but only on occasion, when the wind hit just right and they blew off of her desk to the floor. As she would bend to pick them up, the boy could often get an over-the-desk glimpse of them, each time his eyebrows rising in amazement with what talent for art she had.

Not that the fact surprised him all that much, of course. He'd known she was special ever since she had unknowingly walked straight into his life a month ago when she had first moved to his hometown, Twilight Town, sketchbook in hand and mystery trailing behind her, enticing his curiosity to follow after her like a puppy. He didn't know what, but there was just something _about_ her...

He wondered if the wind would do him a favor today; if he'd get to see what the girl had been so feverishly scribbling at since earlier that morning. He never got to see her face anymore, so he figured that her drawings were obviously the next best thing.

The boy turned his head to the window quickly, to see whether it was open or not. The teacher usually left it open to air the stuffy room out, but as he had recently come to find out, nothing was set in stone. To his reassurance, however, through his electric blue eyes of concentration he noticed a crack between the window frame and the glass so small he would've missed it if he hadn't been looking hard enough. He grinned to himself in amusement.

_Now if a breeze could just blast through or something..._

He sighed and crossed his arms over the desk, turning his attention back to the blonde girl. He noted the way she sat, her blue plaid uniform skirt tucked smoothly and neatly under her and her posture perfect; the way she kept pushing the left half of her hair back over her shoulder to hang down her back while the right half swept loosely over her other shoulder to the front; the way she changed her mind so often on how most comfortably to position her legs-first crossed, then together, then with her feet hiding under her chair, then crossed again. Over the weeks, he had begun to find her small habits to be pretty amusing and sometimes fascinating. Maybe even a little bit cute.

Would he ever admit that to anyone? Not even if his life depended on it.

The school bell suddenly rang in his ears, bringing back the soft dullness of the teacher's sweet-voiced lecture coming to an abrupt end as it did most days.

"Now, class, please don't forget we're changing seats tomorrow!"

The boy let the words flow through one ear and right out the other as he quickly shoved his unorganized mess of notebooks into his schoolbag, got up and rushed out the door. Today, he decided, was the day he was finally going to catch her and tell her just how amazing he thought that her drawings were. Although it looked like she tried to hide it from people, he thought she still deserved to know that someone noticed her talent,, even if it came from some nobody guy that just sat behind her. Her art was an inspiration to him, and though she didn't know it yet he just knew that he had to tell her.

He stepped out into the hall, numerous teens his age walking out of various classrooms and beginning to flood the narrow hallway. His vision swept around for the blonde girl, her once visible form now lost in the vast sea of bodies moving carelessly in their respective directions. Once Roxas had lost her in this, he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He would know, he'd tried. Multiple times. He sighed in disappointment and slung his bag over his shoulder, moving dazedly toward the class five rooms back and leaning casually against the wall beside it to wait.

A few minutes passed and the hallway began to clear out as kids started to head home. Some left in groups, and others completely alone. He heard the click of a doorknob and turned as a guy with fiery red spiky hair wandered out of the classroom.

"Miss me, Roxxy?"

"I told you not to call me that, Axel." Roxas replied, rolling his blue eyes to the back of his head.

Axel chuckled lightly, elbowing his friend in the side and starting for the end of the hallway. Roxas followed at his side, forced to listen as his best friend launched into a story about how, earlier that day, his weird Chemistry teacher, Vexen, started creepily hitting on his lab partner-a pretty girl with short black hair.

"...and you shoulda seen the way he was staring at her. It was naaaaasty. You could tell he was trying to, like, undress her with his mind or something. He kept making these super gross awkward noises when she..."

Roxas began tuning Axel out just as he had done with his teacher in class. His mind wandered to the blonde girl, creating an image in his head of one of her drawings once again floating to the floor because of the wind. He imagined her slowly reaching down to get it, her hair swinging down gently as her small hands grabbed the corners of the paper to bring it back, and he smiled slightly to himself.

Part of him wished he'd had a clearer view of her face. He'd seen it once before and instantly thought it was the most beautiful thing he thought he'd ever seen. And, living in a place like Twilight Town, there were a LOT of beautiful things to see-from the stunning sunsets to the gorgeous sandy beaches lined with sparkling oceans. But the memory had recently started to fade away, the quickly passing days beginning to erase her features from his mind.

On the other hand, the other side was perfectly satisfied with things the way they were, and perfectly happy just being able to see her at all. He shouldn't complain-not when he got to see her just about every day. Sure, he wanted to see her face, but he also knew he was lucky enough already just to get to sit behind her.

Roxas' daydream was abruptly interrupted by a sharp twisting feeling in his forehead that turned out to only be his friend poking him. He snapped out of his daze and looked into Axel's suspicious face.

"You alright, man? You haven't been paying attention almost this whole time. You almost got hit just now, bro," he pointed out, indicating the passing car that had sped by behind them less than a second ago.

"Oh, uh...yeah, yeah I'm fine," the blonde distractedly answered.

The semi-annoyed stare and lone raised eyebrow that Axel gave him told Roxas that he didn't believe it for a second. They crossed another road and entered a small park, as they always did on their way home from school.

"You've been really spacey lately, man. You sure everything's alright?"

"Yup."

"Hmmm...," Axel continued, "I bet I know what your issue is."

The blonde raised his eyebrows and pulled out his wallet as they walked up to their favorite place, the large red ice cream shop that was nestled in the center of the park amidst huge and tall trees as far as the eye could see. "Yeah? What're you thinking, then? Two sea salt ones, please."

The silvery-haired teen at the counter pretended not to hear their conversation and handed the creamy blue ice cream sticks to Roxas, who handed one to Axel. Roxas payed up the five munny they owed, thanked the guy and walked away again.

"It's HER again, isn't it? That girl from your still haven't talked to her yet?"

The short-ish blonde boy sighed. Of _course _Axel would be able to guess what was bothering him. He had gotten really good at it over the years, especially when it came to Roxas. His best friend may have been nosy and pushy, but he knew that Axel would always give him good advice no matter what the situation was or how difficult said advice would be to follow through with. After all, Axel had helped him through a truly dark time of his life when he thought there was absolutely nobody else. If he couldn't rely on Axel, who else did he have?

When Roxas had first told him about the blonde girl, he had simply said:

_You should talk to her._

Well, yeah. Obviously that was the solution. Roxas could see that plain as day. The only problem was, it was about as easy for him to talk to someone like her as it was for someone to staple water to a tree. He would love to be able to take his friend's advice and talk to her, but he just couldn't. He wanted to, more than anything. He wanted to be able to see her face, to say hello to her in the mornings, to tell her that her drawings were as beautiful as she was, maybe even to someday be able to hold her hand and smile at her, if he could take it. But Roxas was terrified.

Besides, he was perfectly happy just watching her from afar, able to see the sunlight catch her hair and pretend that she could notice him someday without fear of being hurt or rejected by her. From far away, he could smell her sweet Paopu Fruit perfume and grin when she was concentrating on sketching without a care in the world and without worrying about anything else, even though he didn't even know her name.

Roxas sighed again. "Not yet. I want to, believe me, but I just...I don't know. How would I even...? What would I say?"

Axel hit his friend on the arm. "You'd say '_hello_,' idiot. Duh, what ELSE would you say?"

Roxas shrugged and licked his light blue ice cream, then bit a somewhat large piece off of the corner.

"Then you'd have to go with, 'your drawings are amazing. I know you try really hard to hide them and everything but since I sit behind you I creepily stalk you while you draw sometimes and you're really good." Axel continued.

The piece of sea salt ice cream suddenly became jammed in Roxas' throat, causing him to choke quite unceremoniously on it. Axel clapped his best friend in the back, laughing.

"Dude, I'm joking! No need to die on me! If you do I'll kill you, got it memorized?"

After regaining a bit of composure and the ability to swallow properly despite the splitting headache of the brain freeze that now plagued him, Roxas nodded.

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><p>Hi everyone! This is Chapter 1 of my very first story, <em>Tastes of Sea Salt<em>! I hope you all like it! Reviews and advice and stuff of the like are greatly appreciated! ;w;

~WaywardWayfinder


	2. Seating Change

Chapter 2-Seating Change

As Roxas walked to school the following morning, he stared blindly at the road as it went on ahead of him. He processed what Axel had told him when he had finally finished choking on ice cream.

_...listen, Roxas. I love watching cute girls who don't even know I exist as much as the next guy. No, really. But in the long run, just watching from the sidelines doesn't contribute much to the overall win, does it? It may seem like laying low is the easiest thing to do, but trust me, if you like her this much NOW, imagine how hard it's gonna be in a month or two when she actually gets noticed by people. She may be a loner now, but in case you haven't noticed, she's pretty cute. Heck, guys from MY class have already begun to notice her, so obviously she's not gonna be flying under the radar for too much longer. How're you gonna feel when you're stuck "watching over her" and she's got a boyfriend, huh? How's it gonna be when she doesn't even know of your existence but she's got so many guys chasing after her that her entourage could form a club? You remember what happened with that Olette girl last year. She felt so claustrophobic she had to switch schools after someone stalked her._

He had a point. A really good point, too. Although it felt much safer to keep his distance, Roxas realized that the girl would indeed eventually attract a lot of attention. Obviously he couldn't be the only one who noticed how beautiful she was. It was just his choice whether he would do something about it now or have to suffer in silence later.

He sighed to himself and dug his hands deep into his pant pockets, feeling the unexpected weight of his bag as he made sure it didn't slip off his shoulder. He looked up and saw the huge school building getting closer and closer as he walked in the direction of the front doors, students filing in to start their day of sitting, and overall boredom. A small feeling of surprise came over Roxas as he hadn't thought he'd come this far in the short amount of time it seemed he'd been walking, but he shrugged it off and followed the crowd inside.

Axel met Roxas at the foot of the stairs in the far end of the school as he usually did. The narrow staircase was the only one in the school that led the way up to the roof and didn't just end there, forcing you to find another staircase. It had small platforms that broke off into the floors' respective hallways, but the stairs themselves just kept going up.

The platforms were so small and hidden from the hallways though, it would be easy to miss them and completely pass the stairway if you weren't intentionally looking for them. Because of this, it never really got noticed by other students and was often passed by without a second glance. That was just fine with Roxas though; he didn't want it crowded by people he didn't know who would more than likely just ruin them with graffiti and litter. It was a nice place just for him and Axel to hang out, besides the rooftop during lunchtime.

The boys said nothing as they climbed the stairs, both of them not only completely ready to go back to sleep, but more than willing to do so right there on the stairs if they so desired. Axel let out a loud yawn, giving Roxas a sudden urge to yawn as well. They reached the top in a matter of minutes and dragged themselves to their classrooms, waving a brief goodbye at the back entrance of Roxas' with a quick smirk from Axel telling him it was now or never. He rolled his eyes as his tall, slender friend meandered away.

Roxas stared at the door for a minute and thought about the girl, probably already sitting inside. She was always early, after all. Even though he wouldn't see her face, as usual, the thought of seeing her even that much made him a bit excited. He could feel his sleepiness start to slowly drain away and a small smile start to spread across his face. All the while his heart started to pound in his chest and work its way up to his throat, and his mind raced at a thousand miles per hour.

_How am I gonna talk to her? What am I supposed to do?_

He decided not to overthink things. They'd work out how they worked out. He opened the door slowly and noiselessly and slipped inside. He found the girl already in her chair with her sketchbook out, and he smiled. He knew it, she was always there before he was. Even from the first day she had been in the class, she was always there when he came in. A warm feeling spread through him when he thought about it, like maybe someday he could walk in and she'd turn around and say hello to him.

He took his seat behind her and watched the people pile in from the front entrance, happy he and Axel had found such a conventient alternative. Coming in from the front just looked dangerous, like if you made a wrong move you'd end up on the floor with footprints in your face and dirt or mud all over you, depending on how the weather was that day. No, thanks.

After everyone had found their chairs and were sitting near them (if not in them then ON them), the teacher walked in.

She was somewhat tall, with short blue hair and even bluer eyes. She was Roxas' favorite teacher, as she was a really sweet person and always cared about her students and helped them to succeed in any way she could. She also gave them snacks sometimes, so that was definitely a plus. She walked up to her chair and took off her jacket then moved to the blackboard, taking her signature blue chalk from the tray and writing something. When finished, she backed off so we could read it.

_Seating Change._

Roxas' eyes widened to the size of saucers and his breath hitched in his throat, a lump starting to form. Seating change? Since when was there supposed to be a seating change?

"Alright everyone! I don't care where you sit, it just can't be where you are right now." The teacher said as the students began rising from their seats, exchanging intense stares with their friends and probably strategically pinpointing the exact location they would sprint to in the next minute or so.

After a moment's tense hesitation where the air itself seemed to stop flowing for just a second, the room almost turned into a madhouse. Kids practically turned chairs over as they got out of them (or OFF of them) and started toward their buddies, eager to find a seat with them. The only person who didn't seem to care where they sat was the girl, who just silently picked up her stuff and gracefully stood, probably waiting for the crowd to die down a bit. Roxas waited as well, hoping against hope that there would be an empty seat behind her-and if not, as least near her. Her head swiveled in search of a place, finally stopping in the direction of an empty chair in the middle of the room.

She headed towards it and so did he, stopping in his tracks when he realized the seat behind it was taken already by a blonde girl who looked like she had a crazy electric temper and would rip him to shreds if he so much as looked at her. Instead he chose life and looked around awkwardly, not knowing what to do, and quickly noticed there was only one more empty place.

_Right next to the girl._

Clearing his throat softly, Roxas plopped himself down into the chair and dropped his bag to the floor, where it slid partway under his desk. He tried not to notice his cheeks growing warmer when he felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned his head to the left.

There, looking into his electric blue eyes with her clear crystal blue ones, was the girl, giving Roxas a curious look as she made a first impression. Her eyes lingered on him for a while, making his cheeks feel hotter and hotter. He noticed her soft-looking golden hair catch the sunlight as it fell over her right shoulder and he looked away, panicking that she might see his red face.

His conscience punched him in the gut over and over as he fought his desire to look at her again.

_No no no. I can't. If I look at her, she'll notice I'm blushing. That's not manly, not even a little bit._

_No, what's not manly is not facing her, whether I'm blushing or not._

Silently scolding his conscience for being so right all the time, he turned to look at the girl again. Surprise hit him when he saw that the girl was still staring at him. He stared at her cheek, afraid that if he looked into her eyes he might get lost in them. The girl suddenly gave him a small, soft smile, as if she was amused by him or something.

He didn't care if she thought he was a blushing idiot as his cheeks grew hotter than ever. Her smile was the most beautiful, stunning thing he'd ever seen in his life.

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><p>Hiiii everyone! I hope you enjoyed the second chapter! :D<br>Reviews, advice and stuff are appreciated a lot! :33 I look forward to sharing the next chapter with you all soon!

~WaywardWayfinder


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